


The Scars We Share: Prologue

by NortheastSunrise



Series: The Scars We Share [1]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Gen, Hurt Spencer Reid, POV Spencer Reid, References to Illness, Sad Spencer Reid, Scars, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-15
Updated: 2019-01-05
Packaged: 2019-08-02 12:33:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16305320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NortheastSunrise/pseuds/NortheastSunrise
Summary: Soulmate AU from Spencer's POV. Spencer ponders soulmates and his specifically throughout his childhood.





	1. Scarred

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry I haven't posted in over a year :P This might be part of a series, but don't hold your breath. I haven't decided if I'm going to continue with it. Also, feel free to leave constructive criticism. Anything that helps my writing is welcome :)

When Spencer Reid was 2 years old, he got a scar that looked like he had been burned, which didn't make sense, because he hadn’t. Even at 2, Spencer was a curious child, especially about things he didn’t understand. He asked his mom and dad where it came from and they explained that his soulmate got hurt. His parents left it at that and told him he’d understand when he was older. 

Whenever Spencer got a new scar, he brought up his questions, but his parents never gave him a clear answer other than that they came from his soulmate. Eventually, he stopped asking and stopped telling his parents when he got a new scar. Several years passed and more scars than Spencer thought a person should have appeared on his body.

When Spencer Reid was 8 years old, he read a book about soulmates. It explained that soulmates were the people that were made for each other. The book said that soulmates were two halves of a whole. They fit together in a way that doesn’t always make sense to other people, but they always belonged together. Soulmates got matching scars when one of them was hurt. The only difference was, whatever caused the scars didn’t hurt for the soulmate that didn’t originally receive the scar. He wondered how he would know if his soulmate had matching scars, since many of them weren’t immediately visible. The book didn’t explain this.

Spencer logically knew that the random scars that crossed his body weren’t his. He had never gotten what looked like a nasty gash on his thigh, nor had he gotten what looked like a dog bite on his calf. He knew these were proof that somewhere, there was someone who had identical scars to these and identical scars to ones he had actually gotten. He sometimes wondered where his soulmate had gotten so many scars. He sometimes considered going to the authorities, but he couldn’t do that. 

Spencer’s mother was sick, and he knew that if the authorities looked into his life, they’d take her away and he’d never see her again, or at least for a long time. Besides, for all he knew, there was another reason that his soulmate got all these scars. Either way, he couldn’t lose his mom, so he ignored all of the new scars he got and pretended like he didn’t have a soulmate. The thought of what his soulmate was like crossed his mind, but he always pushed the thoughts away. He didn’t have the time and energy for a soulmate. His mom needed him.


	2. Innocence Lost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spencer discovers the supernatural and meets Bobby Singer for the first time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally adding to it :D

When Spencer was 15 years old, he met Robert “Bobby” Singer. Later, he might have wished he met him at a book store or something, but he didn’t. He met him while he was tied up in a Wendigo’s layer. The previously human being was terrifying and smelled and made Spencer want to throw up, but he didn’t. He waited until the creature would kill him. Then, all of a sudden, the Wendigo went up in flames and there was Bobby holding out a hand to steady Spencer after having released him from his bonds. Spencer promptly passed out from blood loss and lack of food. 

__________________________________________________________

He woke up in an empty hospital room wondering what happened. Then he remembered and had a panic attack. Moments later, a hand gently touched his shoulder and for some reason it made him relax, even though Spencer didn’t really like being touched. He looked up and it was the man that had saved him from that…that thing.   
“Easy kid, you got a little banged up out there. I’m Bobby, what’s your name? You passed out before I could ask, so I didn’t know what to tell the hospital. I told them you’re my nephew Steven.”

“I’m Spencer. What was that thing?”

“What thing? I found you in the woods looking like you had had been out there a couple a days.” Spencer may have been many things, but stupid wasn’t one of them. He could tell when someone was hiding the truth from him, after years of being lied to and bullied and having a sick mother, and this Bobby guy, whoever he was, was definitely lying to him. The only question was, why? He’d figure it out. He was good at figuring things out.

“Right. What really happened? The last thing I remember before being taken by that thing was taking a walk. Why did it take me? And how did you save me? And are there other things like it out there, or was that the only one?” He had a million more questions racing through his mind, but these seemed the most pressing.

Bobby sighed, probably realizing he wasn’t going to get anywhere by lying. So, he told Spencer everything. Whenever he thought of watering something down, because of how young Spencer was, Spencer kept pressing, until Bobby told him what he had been hiding. He told Spencer about how all the things that go bump in the night were real and that there were people out there that fought and killed them. 

Spencer was quiet, except to ask questions and by the time Bobby was done, visiting hours were long over and Spencer was exhausted. Bobby left with the promise to come back again tomorrow and answer any remaining questions Spencer had.

\--------------------------------------------------

Spencer tried to sleep, but thoughts of all that he had learned kept running through his head. They kept going in circles, but eventually, he passed out and slept, even if it was a fitful sleep. 

\--------------------------------------------------

The next day, Bobby came in and told Spencer he had to leave. He had a case, but he gave Spencer his phone number and told him to call any time, day or night if he needed help, or even just to talk.

That was the beginning of Spencer Reid’s friendship with Bobby Singer.

It was also the end of any innocence that he had managed to hold onto during his troubled childhood.


	3. Family and Blood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spencer learns the difference between family and blood

Bobby likes to tell Spencer that family and blood relations weren’t mutually exclusive. He didn’t fully understand this until after he met a man by the name of Jason Gideon.

Spencer was 19 years old when he met Supervisory Special Agent Gideon of the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI. He had gone to a lecture held by Agent Gideon on Criminology and the Criminal Psyche that was held at his school. After a thought provoking 2 hours, Gideon ended the lecture, but invited anyone who expressed an interest in learning more to stay behind and chat. Spencer waited a long while to get a chance to discuss several thoughts he had had with during Agent Gideon’s lecture.

He talked with Gideon for a while about criminals and psychology and even philosophy. Gideon found he enjoyed speaking to the young man that was knowledgeable and professed interest in his work. He invited Spencer to lunch to keep talking about it. Afterwards, he gave Spencer his card and told him to call if he ever wanted to discuss anything more. It reminded him of that fateful time when he met Bobby Singer.

During the course of the next year, Spencer and Gideon discussed many different things, not all of them related to Gideon’s job. They talked about Spencer’s school work and whatever book either of them were currently reading. They played chess, sometimes in person and sometimes over the phone. Spencer only won once, and it was an accident. Gideon was tired from a long case and made a misstep.

At the end of the year, Gideon invited Spencer to join the FBI after he graduated. Spencer considered this, and after talking to Bobby, decided to do it. He convinced his friend Ethan to go with him, because Ethan was smart enough to do and didn’t have anywhere to go after graduation anyway.

Spencer’s graduation day was perfect. It fell on a clear day. It had sun without being blinding and wasn’t too warm or too cold. Spencer thought the only person who would be there for him was Agent Gideon. He was surprised that when it was his turn to receive his diploma he saw Bobby in the crowd. He thought Bobby wasn’t going to be able to make it because there was a hunt he had to help with. He’ll later find out that Bobby gave his hunt to someone else so he could be there for Spencer. 

Spencer went to the Academy and with training from Gideon and Bobby, he managed to pass all of the requirements needed to become a field agent. He barely passed the physical aspects and handling guns, so it was made a stipulation of being an agent that he got more practice than most of the other agents. 

So shortly after Spencer Reid turned 21 years old, he became Special Agent Spencer Reid. Bobby Singer and SSA Jason Gideon were proud of him, though Bobby didn’t make it to this graduation, but Spencer understood that Bobby wasn’t comfortable around all of these FBI agents. 

Over the next couple of years, Gideon became family. Not long after he joined the BAU, Spencer gained even more family. 

First was Derek Morgan, who became like an older brother to Spencer. He was surprised, because Derek seemed like the assholes who bullied him in high school. It didn’t take long for Spencer to realize that he was nothing like those jocks. He was a great guy that genuinely cared about people, including Spencer, or as he affectionately called him “pretty boy”. 

Next was Technical Analyst Penelope Garcia, who also happened to be Morgan’s soulmate. He wasn’t sure about their relationship because even though he was sure they were soulmates, he didn’t think their relationship was typical of soulmates. He later found out that their relationship was completely platonic, even if they constantly flirted. Spencer didn’t quite know what to make of the bright, neurotic woman that was Penelope Garcia. She eventually won him over with her kindness and the sweets she almost always had on her. 

Then came Special Agent Aaron “Hotch” Hotchner. He had direct command above Spencer. He made Spencer nervous for a long time, but eventually, he became like an uncle, and even on some occasions, a father-figure. They spent a lot of time discussing random topics that were of interest, and unlike everyone else, Hotch let Spencer ramble endlessly, unless they had a case. Then he gently reminded him to focus on the task at hand. And when Spencer needed advise that he didn’t feel comfortable talking to Gideon or Morgan about, he always knew he could go to Hotch. 

Last but not least, Jennifer “JJ” Jareau. The most amazing woman Spencer ever met. Until she met Will LaMontagne, her soulmate, he secretly hoped that he was her soulmate. Afterwards, he realized she was the sister he never had. She was there for him in a way no one had ever been before. Not Morgan, not Hotch, not even Bobby or Gideon. He will always secretly believe the petite blond was his platonic soulmate, even if she wasn’t his romantic one.

These random people, they somehow came together to create a ragtag family. Even if it wasn’t perfect. This family was Spencer’s, along with his Mother and Bobby, and he would do everything he could to keep it together through thick and thin, maybe even grow it.


End file.
